Method and system for authenticating mobile servers for play of games of chance

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method, apparatus, and system of authenticating a mobile server may have at least one mobile server configured to execute games of chance on a plurality of mobile gaming devices and an authentication server configured to: determine a location of the at least one mobile server; determine a wireless communication means to communicate with the at least one mobile server based on the location of the at least one mobile server; communicate with the at least one mobile server via the determined wireless communication means; and initiate authentication, by an authentication server, of the at least one mobile server.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Patent Application No. 15/811,654, filed on Nov. 13, 2017 and entitled “AUTHENTICATION OF MOBILE SERVERS,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, and which in turn is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/217,066, filed on Mar. 17, 2014 and entitled “AUTHENTICATION OF MOBILE SERVERS,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, and which in turn claims priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/794,913, filed Mar. 15, 2013, and entitled “AUTHENTICATION OF MOBILE SERVERS”, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/833,116, filed Mar. 15, 2013, entitled “PORTABLE INTERMEDIARY TRUSTED DEVICE”, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many people are playing games of chance on mobile gaming establishments, such as cruise ships, airplanes, river boats, and the like. The mobile gaming establishments may have servers configured to allow its customers to play the games of chance. However, because the mobile gaming establishments are not always stationary, it is difficult to authenticate the servers to ensure the servers have not been hacked, breached, or otherwise manipulated.

OVERVIEW

The present disclosure relates generally to mobile servers. More particularly, the present disclosure relates generally to the authentication of mobile servers.

In one embodiment, a system of authenticating a mobile server comprises at least one mobile server configured to execute games of chance on a plurality of mobile gaming devices and an authentication server. The authentication server may be configured to: (i) determine a location of the at least one mobile server; (ii) determine a wireless communication means to communicate with the at least one mobile server based on the location of the at least one mobile server; (iii) communicate with the at least one mobile server via the determined wireless communication means; and (iv) initiate authentication, by an authentication server, of the at least one mobile server.

In another embodiment, a method for authenticating a mobile server comprises obtaining, by an authentication server, authentication information from at least one mobile server; determining a location of the at least one mobile server; determining a wireless means to communicate with the at least one mobile server based on the location of the at least one mobile server; communicating with the at least one mobile server via the determined wireless means; and authenticating the at least one mobile server.

In still another embodiment, a method for authenticating a mobile server comprises obtaining authentication information from at least one mobile server; determining a location of the at least one mobile server; determining a wireless means to communicate with the at least one mobile server based on the location of the at least one mobile server; communicating with the at least one mobile server via the determined wireless means; authenticating, by an authentication server, the at least one mobile server; determining whether an operating lease for the at least one mobile server is valid or violated; and disabling the at least one mobile server if it is determined that the operating lease is not valid or is violated.

The present invention provides other hardware configured to perform the methods of the invention, as well as software stored in a machine-readable medium (e.g., a tangible storage medium) to control devices to perform these methods. These and other features will be presented in more detail in the following detailed description of the invention and the associated figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more example embodiments and, together with the description of example embodiments, serve to explain the principles and implementations.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example gaming system.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate an example method for authenticating a mobile server.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example authentication of a mobile server.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary computer system.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example computing system.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments are described herein in the context of authentication of a mobile server. The following detailed description is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used throughout the drawings and the following detailed description to refer to the same or like parts.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

In accordance with the present invention, the components, process steps, and/or data structures may be implemented using various types of operating systems, computing platforms, computer programs, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices of a less general purpose nature, such as hardwired devices, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or the like, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventive concepts disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example gaming system. The gaming system 100 may have a plurality of mobile gaming establishments. The mobile gaming establishments may be any movable device such as a cruise ship 104, airplane 108, bus, train, car, river boat, and the like. Each mobile gaming establishment may have at least one mobile server such as a mobile gaming server, a mobile financial server, a mobile identification (ID) server, and the like. As illustrated, cruise ship 104 may have mobile server 106, and airplane 108 may have mobile server 110.

Mobile server 106, 110 may be gaming servers configured to store and execute gaming data to allow customers to play games (e.g. games of chance, video games, and the like). Gaming server 106, 110 may also be configured to store and execute other features as desired by the gaming establishment. For example, mobile gaming server may be configured to execute games of chance on a plurality of mobile gaming devices. The plurality of mobile gaming devices may be any portable device capable of playing games (e.g. games of chance, video games, and the like) such as, for example, portable telephones, laptops, computers, notebooks, tablets, media players, netbooks, and the like.

The gaming servers 106, 110 may be configured to communicate with an authentication server 112 via network 102. The gaming servers 106, 110 may communicate with authentication server 112 via any wireless connection. Wireless connections may be any known wireless methods such as a 3G wireless technology, 4G wireless technology, Bluetooth, wireless universal serial bus, WiMax, IEEE 802.11x, LTE, 802.16 technology, radio frequency, narrow-beam infrared (IR) sensor, WiFi, point-to-point microwave communication, or any other known wireless methods. Additionally, gaming servers 106, 110 may also communicate with the authentication server 112 via satellite. In this embodiment, the authentication server 112 is land-based and fixed to a regional, territorial, and/or terrestrial location. In another embodiment, the authentication server 112 is housed in the same mobile vessel as the gaming servers 106, 110.

Authentication server 112 may be controlled by any third party required to authenticate gaming servers. For example, the third party may be any governmental control board such as a gaming control board. In another example, the third party may be any non-government company or agency authorized to authenticate gaming servers.

Authentication server 112 may be configured to determine the location of the mobile servers 106, 110. Any location methods may be used to locate the mobile servers 106, 110 such as the use of global positioning satellites, cellular triangulations/trilaterations, or any other known methods. Based on the location of the mobile servers 106, 110, authentication server 112 may determine the most efficient method to communicate with mobile servers 106, 110. For example, if authentication server 112 determines that the mobile server 106, 110 is in international waters and/or a location too far from authentication server 112, authentication server 112 may use satellites or WiMax, whichever is closest to the mobile vessel's current location, to communicate with the mobile servers 106, 110. In another example, if authentication server 112 determines that the mobile server 106, 110 is local (e.g. in a parked bus, on a ship docked at port, on an airplane landed and/or taxied at an airport, and the like) and/or not located far from authentication server 112, authentication server 112 may use a secured wired or WiFi wireless connections to communicate with the mobile servers 106, 110.

Authentication server 112 may have an authentication database 114. The authentication database 114 may be configured to store server information such as digital certificates, digital signatures of software, player ID database, unalterable server identification (e.g., hardware based ID), and any other identifier information for each mobile game server, such as mobile game server 106, 110. Mobile servers 106, 110 may be periodically authenticated to ensure the servers are not hacked, breached, or otherwise manipulated. Mobile servers 106, 110 may be authenticated every 5-30 seconds, minute, hour, day, or at any other desired time interval that may also be pre-defined by an operating lease. An operating lease is a contract to allow the mobile servers 106, 110 to operate. Once authenticated, the mobile servers 106,110 maybe granted a license to operate (the operating lease) over a period of time (e.g., 24 hours), or over a territorial and/or regional location (e.g., on international waters), or a combination of both. Once expired, the mobile servers 106, 110 need to be authenticated again before the operating lease is renewed. The operating lease may simply be a digital certificate residing on the mobile servers 106, 110 that is digitally signed (e.g., using public-private key cryptographic technology) by a trusted entity such as a gaming control board, a manufacturer of the mobile server, a certifying test agency, and the like. The digital certificate binds the ID of the mobile server with a new expiration date, and may conform to the ITU-T standard X.509, which specifies a certificate format that is known in the art.

Authentication server 112 may request authentication information from the mobile server 106, 110. Any known authentication method may be used to authenticate mobile server 106, 110. For example, authentication server 112 may request a digital certificate from the mobile server 106, 110. The received digital certificate may be compared to the digital certificate stored in the authentication database 114. In another example, authentication server 112 may request the digital signature for a software module or even the digital signature for the entire mass storage device. The software module maybe processed through any hashing algorithm known in the art and the result is compared to the decrypted hash from the digital signature. In yet another example, authentication server 112 may request a unique identifier, which maybe stored in unalterable read-only memory (ROM) from the mobile server 106, 110. The received unique identifier may be compared to the unique identifier stored in the authentication database 114. In still another embodiment, authentication server 112 may take a digital fingerprint of the image of the hard drive of the mobile server 106, 110. The image may be taken before the cruise ship 104 leaves port, the airplane 108 takes off from the airport, or before the mobile gaming establishment begins its journey. The image signature may then be compared to the image signature stored in the authentication database 114.

If the mobile gaming server 106, 110 is not authenticated or is otherwise determined to have been hacked, breached or manipulated, the mobile gaming device 106, 110 may be disabled or shut down. In one embodiment, the data on the mobile gaming server 106, 110 may be deleted and all data re-downloaded. In another embodiment, the gaming establishment may have another server (e.g. a back-up server that is pre-authenticated) to use while the original mobile server is being serviced or otherwise disabled.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate an example method for authenticating a mobile server. The method 200 may begin with assigning authentication identifiers to at least one mobile server at 202. The authentication identifiers may be any identifier that is able to authenticate the mobile server using any known authentication method. For example, the authentication identifier may be a digital certificate, operating software's digital signatures, unalterable unique identifier stored in read-only memory (ROM), the unalterable ID of a portable intermediary trusted device attached to the mobile server 106, 110, an image of the hard drive of the mobile server (the image taken before the mobile gaming establishment begins its journey), and the like. The portable intermediary trusted device may be, for example, the portable intermediary trusted device described in related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/833,116, filed Mar. 15, 2013, entitled “PORTABLE INTERMEDIARY TRUSTED DEVICE,” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes. The authentication identifiers may be stored in a database, such as authentication database 114 illustrated in FIG. 1.

The location of the at least one mobile server may be determined at 204. The location may be determined by any authentication server, such as authentication server 112 illustrated in FIG. 1. Any known location methods may be used to locate the mobile server such as the use of global positioning satellites, cellular triangulations or trilaterations, Wifi triangulation, RF fingerprint, or any other known methods.

The at least one mobile servers may be periodically authenticated at 206. The location of the mobile servers may determine how the authentication server communicates with the mobile servers. For example, if authentication server determines that the mobile server is in international waters and/or a location too far from authentication server, authentication server 112 may use satellites to communicate with the mobile servers. In another example, the authentication server 112 may determine that the mobile server is 15 miles away from the nearest WiMax wireless station, a distance that is well within the WiMax station's range. Authentication server 112 may choose to use that WiMax station. In yet another example, if authentication server determines that the mobile server is local (e.g. in a parked bus, a ship docked at port, an airplane landed and/or taxied at an airport, and the like) and/or not located far from authentication server, authentication server may use wireless connections to communicate with the mobile servers.

Mobile servers may be periodically authenticated to ensure the servers are not hacked, breached, or otherwise manipulated. Mobile servers may be authenticated every 5-30 seconds, minute, hour, day, or at any other desired time interval.

If the at least one mobile server is authenticated at 208, a determination of whether to end the authentication is made at 212. Authentication of the mobile servers may end based on any criteria. For example, if the cruise ship is docked at its final destination and the game servers are no longer in use, the authentication may end at 212. In another example, if the airplane has landed at its final destination, the authentication may end at 212.

If the mobile server is not authenticated at 208, the mobile server may be shut down or otherwise disabled at 210. For example, if the digital signature for a software module received from the mobile server does not match the digital signature stored in the authentication server, the mobile server may be disabled at 210.

FIG. 2B is another embodiment of the authentication process. The method 250 begins with assigning the authentication identifiers at 252, to one or more mobile servers. After that, a trusted software image of the operating applications may be loaded onto the mobile server. At 254, an operating lease may be granted to the authenticated mobile server, and subsequently activated. An operating lease is a contract to allow the mobile servers to operate. Once authenticated, the mobile servers 106,110 may be granted a license to operate (the operating lease) over a period of time (e.g., 24 hours), or over a territorial and/or regional location (e.g., on international waters), or a combination of both. Once expired, the mobile servers 106, 110 may need to be authenticated again before the operating lease is renewed. The operating lease may simply be a digital certificate residing on the mobile servers 106, 110 that is digitally signed (e.g., using public-private key cryptographic technology) by a trusted entity such as a gaming control board, a manufacturer of the mobile server, a certifying test agency, and the like . The digital certificate binds the ID of the mobile server with a new expiration date, and may conform to the ITU-T standard X.509, which specifies a certificate format that is known in the art.

Once activated, the mobile server's activities can be tracked at 256. Operating parameters such as the location of the servers, up time, transactions conducted, and the like will be recorded in a database. At 258, the operating lease term may be verified to determine whether the lease has expired. For example, if the time elapsed since activation has exceeded the contracted duration allowed in the lease, or the location of the mobile server is outside the allowed territory, region, terrestrial, and/or geo-fence, or both, then the lease is deemed expired, and an authentication is initiated at 260. If not, the authentication server can return to tracking the activities of the at least one mobile server at 256.

If it is determined, at 260, that an authentication operation is required, the authentication server may verify the authenticity of the mobile server at 262. If it is determined, at 262, that the mobile server is authentic and that trusted applications have not been altered, the operating lease may be renewed at step 264, and the method returns to step 256. If it is determined, at 262, that the authentication process failed, a determination of whether to switch to a back-up mobile server may be made at 268. If a switch to a back-up mobile server is made at 268, the method may return to step 254. The determination of whether to switch to a back-up mobile server may be based on various criteria such as whether there are any previously authenticated back-up servers, whether the back-up servers have valid operating lease, and the like.

If it is determined to not switch to back-up server at 268, the authentication server may shut down the failed mobile server at 266 and the method 250 may end. To maintain the continuity of the operation, a back-up mobile server, that was previously authenticated, may be brought online at 268, and a new lease may be granted and activated for the back-up mobile server. The failed mobile server may be quarantined, or reformatted, or re-imaged, and a new back-up mobile server is created either from yet another back-up server or the reformatted failed server.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example authentication of a mobile server. Initially, when the mobile establishment, such as cruise ship 304 or airplane 302, is stationary before beginning its journey, authentication identifiers for each of the mobile servers 310, 312 may be obtained by authentication server 306. Authentication identifiers may be, for example, a digital certificate, the operating software's digital signatures, unalterable unique identifier stored in read-only memory (ROM), the unalterable ID of a portable intermediary trusted device attached to the mobile server 310, 312, a unique identifier, an image of the hard drive of the mobile server, and the like. The portable intermediary trusted device may be, for example, the portable intermediary trusted device described in related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/833,116, filed Mar. 15, 2013, entitled “PORTABLE INTERMEDIARY TRUSTED DEVICE,” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes. The authentication identifiers may be any identifier that is able to authenticate the mobile server 310, 312 using any known authentication method. The authentication identifiers may be stored in a database, such as authentication database 114 illustrated in FIG. 1.

The location of the mobile servers 310, 312 may be determined by the authentication server 306. Determination of the location may indicate whether the mobile gaming establishment 302, 304 has left its beginning destination 314, 316 or is still at the starting destination 314, 316. If the mobile gaming establishment 322, 3320 has left its starting destination 314, 316 along route “A”, a determination of the location mobile server 310, 312 may be used to determine how to communicate with the mobile server 310, 312. For example, if the location of the mobile servers 324, 326 is located close to land 300 and/or the authentication server 306, authentication server 306 may communicate with the mobile servers 324, 326 via wireless methods. Wireless connections may be any known wireless methods such as a 3G wireless technology, 4G wireless technology, Bluetooth, wireless universal serial bus, WiMax, IEEE 802.11x, LTE, or 802.16 technology, radio frequency, narrow-beam infrared (IR) sensor, point-to-point microwave communication, WiFi, or any other known wireless methods. In one embodiment, the authentication server 306 may be land-based and fixed to a regional, territorial, and/or terrestrial location. In another embodiment, the authentication server 306 may be housed in the same mobile vessel as the gaming servers 310, 312.

However, as mobile establishments 328, 330 are proceeding along route “A” and become further away from the land 300 and/or authentication server 306, authentication sever 306 may need to communicate with mobile servers 332, 334 using known long distance WiMax or satellite methods.

Once mobile gaming establishments 302, 304 leave their starting destination 314, 316, the mobile servers 324, 326, 332, 334 may be periodically authenticated by the authentication server 306. Mobile servers 324, 326, 332, 334 may be periodically authenticated to ensure the servers are not hacked, breached, or otherwise manipulated. Mobile servers 324, 326, 332, 334 may be authenticated every 5-30 seconds, minute, hour, day, or at any other desired time interval and/or time interval allowed by the operating lease.

If the mobile server 324, 326, 332, 334 is authenticated, no action is taken. However, if the mobile server 324, 326, 332, 334 is not authenticated, the mobile server 324, 326, 332, 334 may be shut down or otherwise disabled and a back up mobile server, that was previously authenticated, maybe brought up as a substitution for the failed mobile server. For example, if the digital signature for a software module received from the mobile server 324, 326, 332, 334 does not match the digital signature of the corresponding trusted software stored in the authentication server 306, the mobile server 324, 326, 332, 334 may be disabled.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary computer system 400 suitable for use with at least one embodiment of the invention. The methods, processes and/or graphical user interfaces discussed above can be provided by a computer system. The computer system 400 includes a display monitor 402 having a single or multi-screen display 404 (or multiple displays), a cabinet 406, a keyboard 408, and a mouse 410. The mouse 410 is representative of one type of pointing device. The cabinet 406 houses a processing unit (or processor), system memory and a hard drive (not shown). The cabinet 406 also houses a drive 412, such as a DVD, CD-ROM or floppy drive. The drive 412 can also be a removable hard drive, a Flash or EEPROM device, etc. Regardless, the drive 412 may be utilized to store and retrieve software programs incorporating computer code that implements some or all aspects of the invention, data for use with the invention, and the like. Although CD-ROM 414 is shown as an exemplary computer readable storage medium, other computer readable storage media including floppy disk, tape, Flash or EEPROM memory, memory card, system memory, and hard drive may be utilized. In one implementation, a software program for the computer system 400 is provided in the system memory, the hard drive, the drive 412, the CD-ROM 414 or other computer readable storage medium and serves to incorporate the computer code that implements some or all aspects of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example computing system. The computing system 500 may be the gaming server 106, 110, authentication server 112 illustrated in FIG. 1, or any other server or computing device used to carry out the various embodiments disclosed herein. The computing system 500 may include a processor 502 that pertains to a microprocessor or controller for controlling the overall operation of the computing system 500. The computing system 500 may store any type of data and information as discussed above in a file system 504 and a cache 506. The file system 504 is, typically, a storage disk or a plurality of disks. The file system 504 typically provides high capacity storage capability for the computing system 500. However, since the access time to the file system 504 is relatively slow, the computing system 500 can also include a cache 506. The cache 506 is, for example, Random-Access Memory (RAM) provided by semiconductor memory. The relative access time to the cache 506 is substantially shorter than for the file system 504. However, the cache 506 does not have the large storage capacity of the file system 504. Further, the file system 504, when active, consumes more power than does the cache 506. The computing system 500 also includes a RAM 520 and a Read-Only Memory (ROM) 522. The ROM 522 can store programs, utilities or processes to be executed in a non-volatile manner. The RAM 520 provides volatile data storage, such as for the cache 506.

The computing system 500 also includes a user input device 508 that allows a user of the computing system 500 to interact with the computing system 500. For example, the user input device 508 can take a variety of forms, such as a button, keypad, dial, and the like. Still further, the computing system 500 includes a display 510 (screen display) that can be controlled by the processor 502 to display information, such as a list of upcoming appointments, to the user. A data bus 511 can facilitate data transfer between at least the file system 504, the cache 506, the processor 502, and the CODEC 512.

In one embodiment, the computing system 500 serves to store a plurality of authentication information, mobile server data, and the like in the file system 504. When a user desires to have the computing system display a particular advertisement, a list of the various third party advertisers may be displayed on the display 510.

The computing system 500 may also include a network/bus interface 516 that couples to a data link 518. The data link 518 allows the computing system 500 to couple to a host computer or data network, such as the Internet. The data link 518 can be provided over a wired connection or a wireless connection. In the case of a wireless connection, the network/bus interface 516 can include a wireless transceiver.

While embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. For example, the authentication server maybe regional, territorial, and/or terrestrial (e.g., fixed WiMax towers along the ocean shore, tracking the location of a cruise ship), or the authentication server maybe mobile alongside the mobile server as well (e.g., authentication server is onboard the cruise ship). 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for authenticating a mobile server using an authentication server, comprising: obtaining, by the authentication server, authentication information from at least one mobile server; receiving, by the authentication server, a location of the at least one mobile server; and authenticating, by the authentication server, the at least one mobile server based at least in part on the authentication information and the location of the at least one mobile server, wherein, when authenticated, operating parameters of the mobile server are recorded, wherein, when authenticated, the at least one mobile server is permitted to support performance of games of chance, and wherein, when not authenticated, the at least one mobile server limits or prevents performance of games of chance.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the operating parameters are recorded in a database.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the operating parameters include data pertaining to at least location of the mobile server and transactions conducted via the mobile server.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises: communicating with the at least one mobile server via at least one wireless network to receive the authentication information at the authentication server.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein, when authenticated, the at least one mobile server is associated with a mobile gaming establishment and further is enabled to support a plurality of mobile gaming devices that are associated with the mobile gaming establishment.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the games of chance whose performance is being supported by the at least one mobile server that has been authenticated are performed on one or more mobile devices.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more mobile devices are operable as mobile gaming devices.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one mobile server is a mobile financial server.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication information is one of a digital certificate, a unique identifier, a digital signature, a content image of a storage device, or a portable intermediary trusted device data associated with the at least one mobile server.
 10. A method for authenticating a mobile server, comprising: obtaining, by an authentication server, authentication information from at least one mobile server; determining a location of the at least one mobile server; communicating with the at least one mobile server via at least one wireless network; authenticating, by the authentication server, the at least one mobile server; permitting the at least one mobile server to support performance of games of chance when the at least one mobile server is authenticated; limiting or preventing performance of games of chance by the at least one mobile server when the at least one mobile server is not authenticated; and subsequently de-authenticating the at least one mobile server that has been authenticated the at least one mobile server has moved to a location that is outside an allowed region for authentication. 